Traverse City Central defense puts the deep freeze on Petoskey

Mother Nature's cold spell may have gotten through to the Petoskey High School boys' basketball team on Friday.

Or, Traverse City Central's defense was simply that good.

Whatever the case, the Trojans wrestled first place in the Big North Conference from Petoskey, 62-49, at Petoskey High School.

The loss, Petoskey's second of the week after a 63-61 non-league heart-breaker to Charlevoix three nights earlier, left the Northmen 6-2 overall, 4-1 in the Big North. Central is 6-3 overall and leads the league at 5-1. The Northmen and Cadillac are a half game back.

"I knew it before we even played, win or lose, it was going to be a tough week," Petoskey coach Dennis Starkey said.

Indeed it was a tough week for Petoskey, which was an honorable mention in last week's Associated Press Class A state poll before losing to unbeaten Charlevoix, ranked fifth in Class C, and the Trojans.

Advertisement

What was particularly maddening for Starkey and the Northmen was the way the week unfolded. Charlevoix, which has won six straight over Petoskey, beat the Northmen on a buzzer-beater to win an emotional battle between long-time bitter rivals, while the Trojans smothered Petoskey on its home floor.

Petoskey did not score against Central until just over two minutes remained in the first quarter and trailed 5-1, after the first stanza. The Northmen's first field goal finally came 43 seconds into the second quarter.

The Northmen never got untracked as the Trojans carried the play all night long with outstanding guard play from sophomore Robbie Harman and junior Greg Pinto, along with 6-foot-6 center Michael Runstrom, the Big North's best big man.

"It's a long season," Starkey said. "You go through these stretches every year. You hope you win these games when you're not playing your best, but it didn't happen for us this week."

Runstrom scored 21 points, while guards Harman and Pinto were nothing short of splendid, combining for 23 points and more importantly, handling Petoskey's fullcourt pressure and putting the clamps on Petoskey's top scorers, guards Damon Huffman and Anthony Wilhelm.

Wilhelm and Huffman came in averaging more than 45 points per game, but combined to score just 30 and were held to six points in the first half. Huffman did not a make field goal until early in the third quarter.

"They locked onto our guards and we need to be able to counter that by getting better ball movement and getting other guys involved," Starkey said. "We just didn't do a very good job of that tonight."

The Northmen, who have been solid-to-spectacular from the outside for much of the season, made just 3-of-10 from 3-point range and 13-of-46 overall (28 percent).

"They've got athletes in a lot of positions, much like Cadillac does in our league," Starkey said. "We're going to be involved in a lot of tough battles in the Big North."

Harman, who is just a sophomore but in his second year on the varsity, scored 13 points and did an admirable job - along with plenty of help from his teammates - in handling Petoskey's pressure.

"He played with a lot of poise for a sophomore," said Central coach John Constant, who earned his 300th career victory.

Central committed very few turnovers against the Northmen pressure, and on several occasions worked through it for easy transition baskets.

"If teams take care of the basketball against our pressure, it takes away a big chunk of our offense," Starkey said. "Tonight we didn't get them to turn it over."

While Harman guarded Wilhelm for a good portion of the game, the quick and athletic Pinto stuck to Huffman like bubble gum.

"He played football, he's a good baseball player, he's just a good athlete," Constant said of Pinto, who hit a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left in the half to give the Trojans a 13-point lead, 28-15. Petoskey never got closer than nine points the rest of the way and Central's lead grew to as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter.

"Before the game, (Pinto) was talking about accepting the challenge (of guarding Huffman), giving it his best shot against some pretty good people," Constant said.

Despite the woeful offensive display in the first quarter, Petoskey appeared to have weathered the storm, and trailed by just two, 11-9, midway through the second quarter.

But Harman hit a foul-line jumper, sparking an 8-0 Trojan run that left them up, 19-9, with just over two minutes to go in the half. Petoskey was 0-6 from the floor during the run and just 4-for-23 (18 percent) in the first half.

"We got outplayed, but I'm confident these guys will learn from it and it'll make us better," Starkey said.

Huffman grabbed five rebounds, while Pat LeBlanc and Jordan Munson had four each for the Northmen. Junior guard Brian Chaveriat made three steals.

Corbin Donaldson scored 19 points to lead the Northmen to a 57-44 win in the JV game. Brian Groff added 10 points and Scott Castelein had nine for Petoskey, 7-1.